The image of a local user is captured from a beam splitter disposed in front of a video display. By canting the beam-splitter away from the surface of the video display, the bore-sight of the video camera is made to coincide with the line of sight from the local user to the center of the video display. This enables the arrangement to convey eye-contact from one user to another user using the same type of apparatus at a remote location.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for conveying eye contact from one video teleconference participant to another, comprising the steps of: presenting a video signal comprising an image of a remote participant onto a display screen; positioning a beam-splitter in front of said display screen, the beam-splitter offset from the front surface of said display by an angle of less than about 45 ; capturing an image of a local participant reflected from the beam-splitter together with a portion of the video signal presented on the display screen; clipping and morphing the video signal so that it corresponds to the portion of the video signal presented on the display screen and captured; and subtracting the clipped and morphed video signal from the captured image of the local participant and portion of the video signal presented on the display screen to create a resultant local participant image signal.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: sending the resultant local participant image signal to a remote site; and displaying the resultant local participant image signal on a display at the remote site as a video signal of a remote participant.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: imposing a plurality of targets onto the video signal comprising an image of the remote participant to ensure coincident subtraction of the clipped and morphed video signal from the video signal created by the video camera.
4. A method for conveying eye contact from one video teleconference participant to another, comprising the steps of: presenting a video signal comprising an image of a remote participant onto a display screen; capturing an image of a local participant reflected from the surface of the display screen together with a portion of the video signal presented on the display screen; clipping and morphing the video signal so that it corresponds to the portion of the video signal presented on the display screen and captured; and subtracting the clipped and morphed video signal from the captured image of the local participant and portion of the video signal presented on the display screen to create a resultant local participant image signal.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising the steps of: sending the resultant local participant image signal to a remote site; and displaying the resultant local participant image signal on a display at the remote site as a video signal of a remote participant.
6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising the step of: imposing a plurality of targets onto the video signal comprising an image of the remote participant.
7. An apparatus for conveying eye contact from one video teleconference participant to another, comprising: a video display that presents a video signal received from a remote location; a beam-splitter disposed in front of the video display and oriented at an angle of less than about 45 relative to a display surface of said video display; a video camera that captures a reflected image of a local user from the beam-splitter together with a portion of the image displayed on the video display and creates a local video signal comprising these images; an image processing element that receives the video signal from the remote location and clips the signal and morphs the signal to result in a video signal that corresponds to the portion of the image captured by the video camera that is displayed on the video display; and a summation unit having an inverting input and a non-inverting input and that receives the clipped and morphed video signal from the image processing element at the inverting input and the local video signal created by the video camera and subtracts the signal arriving at the inverting input from the signal arriving at the non-inverting input in a coincident manner.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising: a video transmitter that receives the output of the summation device and directs that video output to a remote location and a video display at the remote location that displays the video signal received from the video transmitter.
9. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising: a target insertion unit that imposes a plurality of targets onto the video signal received from the remote location and wherein the summation unit uses the plurality of targets to ensure coincident subtraction of the clipped and morphed video signal from the video signal created by the video camera.
10. An apparatus for conveying eye contact from one video teleconference participant to another, comprising: a video display that presents a video signal received from a remote location; a beam-splitter disposed in front of the video display and oriented at an angle of less than about 45 relative to a display surface of said video display; a video camera that captures a reflected image of a local user from said beam-splitter together with a portion of the image displayed on the video display and that creates a local video signal comprising these images; an image processing element that receives the video signal from said remote location and that processes said signal to produce a video signal that corresponds to the portion of the image captured by the video camera that is displayed on the video display; and a combining unit that receives said processed signal from the image processing element and the local video signal created by the video camera and that processes said processed signal and said local video signal to produce a signal that contains only the reflected image of the local user.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising: a video transmitter that receives the output of the combining unit and directs that video output to a remote location and a video display at the remote location that displays the video signal received from the video transmitter.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising: a target insertion unit that imposes a plurality of targets onto the video signal received from the remote location and wherein the combining unit uses the plurality of targets to ensure coincidence of a clipped and morphed video signal from the video signal created by the video camera.
13. A method for conveying eye contact from one video conference participant to another, comprising the steps of: presenting an image of a remote participant on a local display; positioning a beam splitter in front of said display at an angle of less than about 45 relative to a display surface of said display; capturing an image of a local participant that is reflected from said beam splitter when said local participant is viewing said local display along with at least a portion of the remote participant image presented on said local display; and subtracting at least a portion of a remote participant image from said capture image.
14. An apparatus for conveying eye contact from one video teleconference participant to another, comprising: a first display for presenting a video signal comprising an image of a remote participant onto a display screen; a camera for capturing an image of a local participant reflected from the surface of the display screen together with a portion of the video signal presented on the display screen; a processor for clipping and morphing the video signal so that it corresponds to the portion of the video signal presented on the display screen and captured; and said processor subtracting the clipped and morphed video signal from the captured image of the local participant and portion of the video signal presented on the display screen to create a resultant local participant image signal.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising: means for sending the resultant local participant image signal to a remote site; and a second display for displaying the resultant local participant image signal on a display at the remote site as a video signal of a remote participant.
16. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising: said processor imposing a plurality of targets onto the video signal comprising an image of the remote participant.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 9, 2001
January 14, 2003
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